“I deny that I’ve been fired,” Beckwith said, adding that he was speaking from the campaign office at that very moment (reached on his cell phone, he said he divides his time between the campaign and Cornyn’s federal office).

Further, Beckwith said, “I am willing to bet anyone $100 that will go to Vets for Freedom if I have either been fired or am fired in the next few weeks.”

If that bet sounds familiar to readers of Burnt Orange Report, it also was made by commenter Buck Smith, whom Beckwith identifies as his alter ego.

Beckwith said he picked up that ID as a reporter back in the ’60s when he left an urgent phone message for a source, and the message was relayed that “Buck Smith” had called.

“I made this offer on Burnt Orange Report last night at 6 o’clock. Up ’til now, no one has taken me up on it, which I have to assume means Buck Smith has more credibility than the editors of the Burnt Orange Report,” Beckwith said.

Matt Glazer, who is editor-in-chief of Burnt Orange and wrote the item, said the rumor was relayed by a half-dozen Republican lobbyists and consultants whose information in the past has proven to be reliable.

Glazer said the Cornyn campaign denied that Beckwith had been fired but added, “No one in the Cornyn campaign has denied that he will be let go,”

He was working as a reporter in the 60s? How old is this guy? He’s leaving juvenile comments all over the internet and he’s not grown up enough to realize it’s a stupid thing to do?

He can question the integrity of a group of bloggers all he wants, but they’ve got their name on their site and he’s the guy anonymously and dishonestly shilling for his boss.

Cornyn has built up a good reputation as an open government, open records advocate which I respect. When a staff member getting paid by taxpayer dollars AND campaign funds is using his time to leave anonymous comments it comepletely flies in the face of his boss’s message.